In reality, this tire may never exist since everyone will have their own version of perfect and everyone’s needs will not align with each other. We must accept this fact and choose which area of performance we’re willing to sacrifice in order to obtain stronger performance in other areas.
Over the years, Interco Tires has been on the “want list” due to their history of superb off-road performance and durability. However, they never made it on the truck thinking that they would have a short tread life and not be an adequate tire for daily driving. Then, last year along came my commuter car and the possibilities to push the boundaries of what can be the “perfect” overlanding/off-road tire.
Not having to rely on the Tacoma for daily driving, I picked up a set of Trxus M/T from Interco Tires to put to the test. Immediately the aggressive tread design had me intrigued and curious as to how the tire will handle on long road trips and off-road performance. We decided to use tire balancing beads to better keep the tire balanced over its life and avoid any premature tire wear due to being out of balance. After nearly 12,000 miles on the tires, this turned out to be a great idea.
Since installation, the tires have tackled a wide variety of terrain including: Hole in the Rock Trail; numerous trails in Colorado’s Flat Tops, Front Range, Mosquito Range, Sawatch Range and San Juan Mountains; Moab and Bears Ears NM; the Maze District in Canyonlands NP; Grand Staircase-Escalante NM; and North Rim of the Grand Canyon. However, with winter just now showing up in Colorado, these tires have yet to see solid winter testing. Trxus M/T has been known to excel in winter conditions, so many are following the testing, and we are all very curious to see how they hold up to their reputation.
Dry Pavement Traction
It took a little time to dial in the appropriate tire pressure for these tires to get them handling predictively on the road. I typically will run my tires in the 34psi range, however, these needed a little higher pressure to keep them from wanting to wander on me. Around 38psi these tires have been coming around in their on-road handling and no longer cause any handling issues. If you accept that these are an aggressive mud terrain and not an all-terrain, your expectations of handling like a sports car can be brought down to reality. With a lower expectation of superior on-road handling, the Trxus M/T have beat my expectations and are surprisingly quiet for the aggressive tread design (note: between the supercharger and not tame exhaust notes, a lot of road noise does get drowned out).
RATING: 2 of 5
Wet Pavement Traction
Over the time with these tires, we have had some good storms come through and saw a good amount of standing water on the roads. I cannot recall anytime during these situations where I was worried about hydroplaning or losing traction. I do recall one instance where another vehicle in my party who was running MT/Rs, had to slow down due to hydroplaning, while at the same time, I did not notice any loss of traction while running in front on the highway.
RATING: 4 of 5
Off-Road Traction
As one would expect from Interco Tires and their long history of off-road performance, these tires have met and exceeded all expectations. A trip in the Flat Tops led us through some sloppy, slick mud in which these tires invoked confidence in knowing that my truck will be able to keep my desired lines and make it through some nasty situations, while others would be sliding sideways fighting for traction. From the endless slickrock on the Hole in the Rock Trail to the many slickrock trails around Moab, these tires love to grip.
RATING: 5 of 5
Winter Traction
I’m eagerly awaiting some real experience in this area. Stay tuned to our long-term review on the Trxus M/T.
Tread and Tire Life
With a much softer compound than previous tires I’ve experienced, tread life was a major concern of mine. So far, there has been some minor chunking and noticeable rounding of the edges due to the amount of off-road miles these tires have seen. However, the chunking has been few and far between and minor, while the other wear is as expected with the terrain they’ve traveled on. There’s currently 14/32nd average tread left which puts me ahead of my expected 30,000 mile tread life. If the miles were more commuting and not primarily used for off-roading and overlanding trips, maybe it would be a different story. Tires are rotated every 4,000-5,000 miles with every oil change.
RATING: 3 of 5
Conclusion
It has been a great journey so far with the Trxus M/T and I look forward to spending a winter with them where they are expected to shine. In the search of the perfect overlanding/off-road tire, the verdict is not yet clear on the Trxus M/T, and as previously mentioned, it is not for everyone. If you have minimal commuting duties and spend a lot of time off-road where you need a dependable tire to get you out of any condition, you may want to add the Trxus M/T to your list of possibilities.
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